If I was anyone else
by ashhead
Summary: Nina enjoys her power over Jack.


Nina felt him stir, soft skin caressing hers gently, breath echoing against her neck. She enjoyed this, far more than she ought to. But then again, did it really matter? It was her job, and if she couldn't enjoy it, then it was pointless her doing it.

There were others, other targets than the man who was lying next to her, other men and women that she could be assured would return her attentions, would provide her with the options she needed. But him, well it had had to be him. No one else even came close. Balding men with bitterness etched through them, ambitious women who wanted to dominate, neither of them were something she hadn't experienced before. But him, he was something entirely different.

It was almost a shame he had to die. Not that she would do anything to get in the way, she would even aid those who wanted him dead if need be. This was her job, power and leverage came above anything else. But still, she was intrigued by him.

Stilling her breath, making it shallow and even, she shifted slightly, bringing him to wakefulness as she took the appearance of sleep. She felt him move towards her, his stomach fitting against her back, bringing waves if warmth against her. 

"Teri," hoarse voice whispering about her, teasing at her.

Nina kept her pretence up, kept her position, even as he came to realise who he had woken up beside. He shuddered slightly, jumping back from her, distancing himself, as if that would make a difference to what they had done. He had slept with her, and although it had merely been about sex then, it was about a whole lot more now. 

She even kept her position as she heard him pull his clothes on, swearing softly. She stayed perfectly still as she heard him drive away, and then a long while afterwards. She had done her job, he wouldn't be able to go back to Teri now, it would tear at him. He was hers, he would come back, he needed some semblance of reality to hold him together. He needed to believe that there was someone there for him, even if it was only for sex.

Eventually her sense of professionalism pulled her out of bed. She hadn't felt like this in so very long. Not since she was a teenager, pulling herself out of her teacher's bed without him paying her attention. She had learnt several things then, the most important being that attachments aren't real. Sex is just sex, it only means something if you want it to, only if you form attachments in your head. Since then she had been able to hold herself back, enjoy the moment but nothing more.

But she hadn't been a teenager in a long while, and although she was feeling something that made very little sense, her job was much more important. She surveyed the room, looking for things that would have to be kept, others that would need to be got rid of. They had made quite a pretty mess. He had been fierce, not rough, but it wasn't about her. She enjoyed seeing him like that, another side to the enigma that was Jack Bauer.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror, she hadn't bothered to find her clothing, lack of clothing was not something she found vulnerability in, she had come to realise early on that there were far worse things to be afraid of.

She brushed a hand across her hair, settling it slightly, "You ought to be more careful Jack. If I was anyone else…" She couldn't quite finish her sentence. If she was anyone else she wouldn't want to kill him, anyone else would just have been offended. But if this was anything other than work he would be dead right now. Things like that didn't ever get to be said in front of her.

Not that she cared. Which she settled with, "If I was anyone else, I would have cared." Not entirely true, but words offered her a protection, and she knew how to build believable lies, so much so that she would come to be fooled by them.

By the time she arrived at work, dressed immaculately, hair and makeup done, she was already believing it. She knew she had chosen her outfit well, the puppy dog who had been following her for a while almost let his jaw hit the floor. Tony Almeida she believed his name was. She let her eyes linger for a minute, aware that she was in full view, and that Jack's office was in sight. The puppy dog would do for some fun later, she decided, that would add a nice tension too.

It wasn't until then that she let herself glance up to Jack's office, finding him watching her. She offered him a smile that was much a challenge as anything else. If he wanted her, he was going to have to come and get her, and she was certain that he would.


End file.
